The first proper Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia was a mixed bag.
The 2026 edition of WWE’s most anticipated show of the year saw surprise returns, strong rumble performances and solid depression booking. Multiple young stars performed excellently, while the old stars stood tall at the end. This show felt like a small glimpse into what it will look like in 2027 when WrestleMania takes place in the country, complete with a prolonged fireworks display and all.
Elephant In The Room
Every time WWE does a show in Saudi Arabia, we need to address what this partnership actually means. This is sportswashing, plain and simple. WWE’s TKO brother in the UFC has no trouble laundering the image of terrible people and regimes, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone when WWE engages in the same practices. Combat sports have been used as a powerful propaganda tool for decades, and professional wrestling is no exception.
There are significant signs of human rights violations in the stadium construction project in Riyadh, but WWE was more than happy to ignore that and paint a much more positive picture of the situation on their programming. Along with WWE personnel’s direct involvement with Donald Trump’s fascist regime in the United States, this type of thing is becoming all too common in the WWE sphere. As sports and wrestling fans, we can’t ignore the underlying issues with the content we consume and the companies we choose to support with our time and money.
Who knows, maybe I should learn to stop worrying and love the bomb.
Women’s Royal Rumble
For the third year in a row, the women’s Royal Rumble match opened up the show. Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss began proceedings and foreshadowed how this rumble revolved around the tag division. Over half the field was a tag team, and there were three instances of wrestlers eliminating their tag partners (Flair, Kairi Sane and Liv Morgan). It just shows how much WWE is investing in the fledgling division.
Jordynne Grace and Lash Legend were great powerhouses, the latter giving her best showing since being called up to the main roster. Chelsea Green only spent a little over eight minutes in the rumble, but maximized every single second, including a fantastic elimination save with help from Alba Fyre. Brie Bella made a surprise return. Brie and her sister Nikki might be the most popular women on the roster in Saudi Arabia. Rhea Ripley took the nastiest bump of the night when she got eliminated by Raquel Rodriguez via Tejana Bomb onto the apron.
Sol Ruca was undoubtedly the MVP. The Sol Snatcher is one of the coolest moves in wrestling, and Ruca looked like a future main eventer here. She made the final three along with Morgan and a returning Tiffany Stratton. Morgan picked up the deserved win, and it should be interesting how that plays into The Judgement Day’s current feud with Stephanie Vaquer.
Overall, it was a solid rumble from the women. It did a decent job of showcasing the young talent and advancing storylines throughout the card.
Final Grade: *** 1/4
Gunther vs. AJ Styles
Gunther continued his streak of retiring your favorite wrestlers as a child. This time, he came for the phenomenal AJ Styles. Styles’ career was on the line, and both men went out and put on the best match of the night. It was a rather standard main event Gunther match; he dominated the first portion of the match with power moves and submissions, wearing down Styles. Styles continued his string of excellent performances here. He pairs well with basically everyone, but he and Gunther showed exceptional chemistry on this night.
The finishing sequence was reminiscent of John Cena’s retirement match, with Styles struggling through Gunther’s vaunted sleeper hold. Unlike Cena, Styles didn’t tap and instead blacked out, awakening a few moments later, unsure of what happened. That was an excellent piece of storytelling from Styles, as was the performance of the referee, Rudy Charles.
Most of the talk coming out of the match will be about Styles putting his gloves back on before leaving the ring. Some have speculated it means he could continue wrestling; until proven otherwise, it’s most likely he was just overwhelmed by the crowd and the moment.
Final Grade: ****
Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn for the WWE Undisputed Championship
This wasn’t a wrestling match as much as it was a murder. Drew McIntyre took Sami Zayn to the woodshed, absolutely dominating the uber-popular babyface. Zayn’s popularity in Saudi Arabia rivals his popularity in his hometown of Montreal. Riyadh was fully behind Zayn and winced and recoiled at every devastating maneuver McIntyre put him through.
Zayn showed superhuman resilience here. McIntyre focused on Zayn’s lower back with crushing back breakers and a top rope White Noise. Three Future Shock DDTs, a powerbomb through an announce table and three Claymores later, McIntyre put Zayn down for the three count.
It was Zayn’s first loss in Saudi Arabia, no doubt setting up for him to win a world title at the first Saudi Mania next year. It’s good that McIntyre’s reign didn’t end so soon, and Zayn should be fine coming out of this. It compounded the home crowd’s devastation from the previous match, which ended up being a decent booking choice if the point was to make the crowd more receptive to the winner of the next match.
Final Grade: *** 1/2
Men’s Royal Rumble
The Good
This year’s Men’s Royal Rumble match started with a bang. A masked man came out and assaulted the #2 entrant, Bron Breakker, allowing Oba Femi to eliminate him immediately. The masked man used Seth Rollins moveset, but some have speculated that Logan Paul was behind the attack.
This set Femi up to dominate the first third of the match. He looked like an absolute star here. WWE has done a great job keeping his aura and presentation after moving him up to the main roster from NXT. WWE’s two other major men’s callups, Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans, had opposite showings. Williams got a great reaction when he made his entrance, but wasn’t afforded any time to make a mark on the match. Evans sold a lot, but he looked excellent while doing it and spent over 40 minutes in the match.
AAA representatives Mr. Iguana and La Parka did well with their time. Dos El Grande Americanos was a fun comedy spot (and hopefully a WrestleMania match between Chad Gable and Ludwig Kaiser). Royce Keys, formally known as Powerhouse Hobbs in AEW, made his debut at #14 in the match. Dumb discourse around his new name aside, Keys should have a bright future with the promotion. Hopefully, WWE handles him with care.
The Bad
Not everyone can get showcased in a match like this, but the treatment of Rusev and Rey Fenix in this match is criminal. Brock Lesnar made an appearance, and it’s just as disgusting seeing him now as it was when he first made his return at SummerSlam last year. The decision to have him eliminate Oba Femi before the final ten was a poor choice, only saved by the fact that it will most likely lead to a Femi win at WrestleMania and a retirement match against Gunther at the 2026 edition of SummerSlam.
The biggest issue with this year’s men’s rumble comes down to playing too safe booking-wise, funnily enough, the opposite problem from last year’s Jey Uso win. Once the final eight were determined, there was no one left who would be both an interesting and realistic winner. Evans, Penta and Jacob Fatu would’ve been interesting winners but had no chance. Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Gunther and Roman Reigns were the only real options, but they aren’t that interesting.
Logan Paul reaching the final four every year while not really doing anything in the match itself is getting old. Reigns, Orton and Gunther as the final three is fine but boring. The crowd went wild for Reigns when he eliminated Gunther to take home the 2026 Rumble. He remains incredibly popular, especially in Saudi Arabia. Also, eliminating the man who retired everyone’s childhood favorites helped boost the positive reaction at the end.
That being said, another Reigns WrestleMania main event, no matter who it’s against, doesn’t really do anything for me.
Final Grade: ** 3/4
Final Thoughts
Overall, the 2026 Royal Rumble was a good show. Gunther/AJ Styles was clearly the best match of the night. McIntyre/Zayn was fine for what it was and felt like the first piece in a long-term story. WWE did well showcasing a few of their young stars, namely Ruca, Femi and Evans. Morgan’s win felt earned, while Reigns felt too safe. All that amounts to a solid, albeit morally dubious, Big Five PLE from WWE.
Final Grade: *** 1/4
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